sarah's choice: teal or crimson

well after a week's rest i'm feeling alot better. i went to church this morning and had alot of fun :)
i spent last week resting and watching tv. it was nice to have time to get back to full health. although i'm still coughing, i feel better in myself.

this afternoon mum and i went shopping for stuff for my room. i have decided over christmas to have a real clearout of my room and also to redecorate.
now dont panic people, i have thought about my gorgeous lily mural and dont worry the artiste is going to paint another one for me.
however this has left me with a horrible choice. what colour to go for??
the plan is to do the back wall in a bold colour and the other 3 in cream and then to have curtains and cushions to match the coloured wall.
i've found the most amazing curtains, very dramatic colours and beautiful. but what colour to have them in? teal or crimson?
i like both and am slightly leaning towards the teal but at the moment i'll take opinions.
if you know me and/or know my room then please feel free to let me know your thoughts.
it may not seem a big deal hehe but its probably the last time i will ever decorate my room :( and i want to get it right.

tonight i'm out at space which should be good fun. got quite a bit of work to do this week in order to catch up from last week but shouldnt be too bad.
then on friday is the big event...the mcfly concert :D am excited about going.
plus on the saturday i'm going to see 'noughts and crosses' in stratford (based on the book)
then next week i'm going to do some christmas shopping which i'm actually quite looking forward to!

hope thats a good update, i imagine there will be another one at some point next week too :)
much love xxx

weekend away 07- no voice, lots of fun and a very muddy stevie...

apologies for my late blog after the weekend away but you will understand why once you read this.

on friday i woke up at 6am and felt like my throat was closing..completely typical. i had to get a sore throat just before the weekend away. but i thought 'i'll be ok, just take lots of painkillers and it'll be fine'
at 2pm Ed and i headed down to kent. it was a very memorable trip. i'll admit i didnt know whether we'd have that much to talk about but it was one of the most hilarious road-trips ever! i played him relient k, we ate sweets, talked about nonsense and got lost...deliberately of course!
unfortunately after moving alot of chairs and tables and setting up alot of stuff i was feeling pretty bad. then all the youth arrived and the fun began :) my voice was croaky though.

got up early on saturday morning and my voice was getting worse. particularly since i then did high ropes with the genesis guys and talked alot. i was good and didnt shout too much though. i didnt really do many of the high ropes but it was good fun and the instructor was lovely.
but by lunchtime i'd lost my voice completely and my throat was hurting alot. it meant i couldnt lead the parts of the teaching sessions i was supposed to. Aidan and Becky were stars though and took over for me. it was good fun. I also then went with the genesis group to do low ropes which was fun but equally tiring. by dinner time i was feeling very tired, very ill and very down. so i decided to go have a nap for an hour before the evening session.
i wanted to talk to my mum but couldnt ring her coz she wouldnt be able to hear me which made me cry lol but texted her for a bit and then went to sleep.
next thing i knew it was 9pm and i'd missed the session :( i wasnt feeling any better so i got changed and went to bed properly, hoping that by the morning i would feel better.

sunday morning and my voice was back but still very croaky. i was with space for the day which was brilliant. alison and i oversaw a military style operation of cleaning the lodge before doing the last teaching session. again i couldnt lead my bit but we did watch the film (hopefully appearing on youtube/facebook as soon as we figure out how to do it legally) which was absolutely brilliant- speeded up, black and white, Aidan playing Jesus and Andy in charlie chaplin style...need i say more??
then we did the low ropes course with the space guys. it was brilliant. i had a wicked group and we got round well. everyone finished early so a gladiator style fight was encouraged. it took place on a long log over a muddy swamp. this fight was between stevie and pj...a clearly fair fight. needless to say stevie ended up quite muddy. stevie then took on alex corps and lost. plus he then tried to walk across the log...silly boy!
once back at the lodge pj kindly hosed him down which was funny! bless stevie was soaked and cold so i got him a towel. it was a fun last event :)
then at the final get-together it was announced that space had won the egg cup challenge which was cool, i'd been with both groups so would have been happy with either of them winning.
then we had our traditional group photo and headed back in for lunch before leaving.
lunch was probably one of the funniest events of the weekend, mostly because Pete, Mike and i had a brilliant conversation :D and also because Alison and i had guessed that lunch would run late and we kept catching each other's eyes across the room and laughing because it was indeed late.
then i went back on the coach because Aidan swapped with me, although it didnt make much difference in the end. i slept most of the way back which was nice.

so basically it was a really good weekend although i felt pretty rubbish for most of it.
i spent sunday evening watching tv and just resting.
during monday night i woke up and took some ibuprofen coz i felt bad still...unfortunately if you take ibuprofen on an empty stomach it can irritate your stomach and make you sick.
something that i didnt know but had the pleasure of realising as i threw up the contents of my stomach at 3am. at that point i was laughing to myself coz it felt a bit like i'd thought i couldnt feel much worse and then i'm throwing up so i guess i was wrong.

needless to say on monday i still felt really bad so went to see the doctor although it wasnt much help, apparently its a viral throat infection and the only way i'm going to get better is to rest lots and drink lots of fluids. so i took today off work and havent done anything. i feel slightly better but not much so i think i wont be going to work tomorrow either but probably go back for thursday.
hope that highlights my weekend, it had good parts but for the most part i'm glad to be home and resting.
prayers for my health please :)
got some busy weekends coming up
much love xx

procrastination...

wow my second blog in one week, that hasnt happened in a while, and it clearly has nothing to do with the fact that i have work to do and am using my blog to avoid doing it!

i worked hard after cells yesterday and did some more work, despite feeling slightly sick :(

today i have lunchclub, then meeting V (my mentor), then going round to andy and emma's to cut out some cardboard shields (don't ask), then going to the gym with my mum and val. plus i need to start packing and also planning the sessions i'm leading this weekend.
then this evening i have....you may need to sit down to hear this....i have a night off!


take some deep breaths as you get over that shock :P
i'm viciously protecting my night off tonight too. even if that means that my day is very busy and packed full of jobs.

but before lunchclub i'm going to my nan and grandad's for lunch, this has been one of the upsides of my gap year. i can phone in the morning and then just go round to their house and my nan will make me amazing sandwiches and i dont have to worry about making it myself or anything. and i get to see my grandparents for a bit and talk to them about everything and nothing. plus it means i get brownie points coz i'm seeing them each week and they love to see me :)

however right now i need to go finish preparing for the lunchclub i'm supposed to be leading in 2 hours!
due to my first aid course tomorrow i doubt i'll blog tomorrow and then it's the weekend away so be prepared for a long blog on sunday night or monday :D
keep me in your prayers
much love xxx

drowning in paper...

i have too much paper around me!
i dont want to forget to do something that i need to do before friday so i have piles of paper all over my desk.
'what's friday?' i hear you ask. well friday is when the fun/tiring/hectic/crazy/god-filled weekend away officially begins!
weirdly enough i haven't had time to get excited about it being 3 days away because i have too much to do before then! its so different being a leader to being a youth member...the weekend away has the added stress of actually needing to know whats happening!

tomorrow is my last day to prep everything and i keep thinking that it's wednesday today and starting to panic but it isn't...it's only tuesday, i still have time.
thursday doesnt count as a day because i'm away in aylesbury all day on a first aid course- i hope it goes ok, i haven't really had time to worry about not knowing anyone there or not knowing where it is or anything like that.
and on friday i leave early at 1pm so have to spend the morning packing and sorting the final few details.

oh plus we have genesis cells tonight and jms lunchclub tomorrow (which i'm leading) and i'm meeting V (my mentor) and i'm expecting my personal statement back any time now.

ever feel like your head is going to explode?!
however i have a secret weapon in all of this....God :D
ok...so he's not so secret but he is still keeping me calm and making the day go nice and slowly so i can get my work done.

i know this isn't a very long blog but its only 3.45 and i still have a lot of work to do before cells at 6pm, plus i ought to eat some tea at some point!
prayers please for this weekend- particularly for myself and for the first aid course on thursday which i will no doubt panic about late on wednesday night!
much love xxx

an autumn spring clean

we saw, we battled and we conquered.
the godzone cupboards are now officially sorted out.
not only are they in some sort of order but the stuff is all in boxes and there is a new 'props and games' cupboard for use by childrens or youth work.
val and i worked tirelessly most of the day and although it was tough and exhausting, there was a real satisfaction at the end :)
plus it was brilliant to talk to val all day, got some good advice and just had a laugh.

it's been a busy week and i know it's not going to get any better since the weekend away is coming up. however i dont mind because it's the weekend away and it's going to be amazing!
:D i'm really looking forward to it, doesnt matter whether i'm a leader or a member of the youth, the weekend away is a massive combination of high energy, worship, silly games, new friendships, teaching and inside jokes. plus its a visual insight into how god can meet with people in so many different ways.

but before the busyness continues i have tomorrow off :) i also had tonight off although i used it to babysit, which was pretty relaxing actually since it was for Ron & Ruth's little girl (Ron is the new minister at LF) and they are just lovely and i feel comfortable chilling out in their house.
as for tomorrow, i plan to sleep in until midday hopefully (i havent been sleeping well- prayers for that please) and then go window shopping, i am completely broke at the moment but there's no harm in looking, in fact it's alot of fun! i'm probably also going to have a night in infront of the tv....

lol when did my perfect day become sleeping in, window shopping, staying in to watch tv. i dont care if it sounds like i don't have a social life because quite frankly i dont have a social life.
my friends are away at uni mostly, i see my house group who are great and some other friends, but doing a gap year can be quite lonely friends-wise. you dont have the same best girl friends as you did at school, or at least they aren't around at the moment.
it's lonely sometimes but it also means i've discovered new levels of friendship with other people; my parents, val, people in my house group...and to be honest, my brother. he still annoys me ALOT but most of the time he's always there to hang out with.
and i think i'm ok with that.
plus there's god :) he's always there to talk to, plus he understands and forgives when i get upset or mad.

anyway, after my little off-topic tangent i am going to go to bed since it's late and i have time to write a better blog tomorrow :)
much love xxx

gonna razzle dazzle 'em!

hello one and all
(notice it in monday night and so less than a week since i last posted haha!)
my last week has been up and down.
i was ill on wednesday and thursday but got better on friday and saturday which let to me going to see 'chicago' in London on saturday night (more about that later) which then made me feel ill on sunday so i had to cancel doing work on sunday. but i feel better today for resting.

'chicago' was sooooo good :D it was a long day and taking the train wasnt so great but the show itself was very good. i'd never seen chicago before and i'd only seen bits of the film but i loved the show! all the songs were great and Kat and i got tops with 'razzle dazzle' on them :)

this week is going to be busy but good.
since from wednesday onwards my work is going to be focused on planning the weekend away (we have a planning meeting on wednesday night), i'm going to use tomorrow to do all the jobs i should have done a couple of weeks ago. you know the jobs i'm talking about...the not urgent jobs with no deadlines, the 'i need to do this at some-point' type jobs. like putting together youth photo frames, writing a cell outline, looking at some material, folding programs. those sort of jobs. plus i have fitzharrys lunchclub and then genesis cell groups in the evening.

so tuesday should be a fairly ok day, wednesday might be busy. on thursday val and i are going to sort out the godzone cupboards and make a props cupboard for the kids and youth work. if you know they godzone cupboard then you know this could take most of the day!
friday is my day off and i don't have anything planned :D which is a definitely a good thing!
on saturday i'm going ice-skating and then on sunday i have normal church stuff.
should be a pretty ok week...but i wont speak too soon hehe since my week tends to be up and down.

as for tonight, i am going to go to bed and hopefully get a really good night's sleep.
ooh and on other news, i have a new phone :) same number but new phone!

but i'm off to bed now.
night night, much love xxx